Easy. Lmao

花言葉は再会

Aerith and Tifa as Sephiroth’s Foils

There are a lot of moving pieces to Final Fantasy 7–something that has historically contributed to its infamous reputation of being confusing. But one consistent thematic pattern that FF7 utilizes is duality. Life and death. Meetings and partings. Loneliness and togetherness. Many of the main themes presented in FF7 fall into this same format. Even the characters can be considered dualities in and of themselves. One of the most obvious dualities in the game is that of Aerith and Sephiroth. However, in varying degrees, all of the main characters are in some way antithetical to Sephiroth.

Like in many other classic hero vs. villain tales, you’d think that Cloud is the perfect foil to Sephiroth–after all, they’re at odds, so it would make sense that they’d be opposites. However, what makes Cloud and Sephiroth’s conflict so fascinating is that they actually have a good amount in common. Both Cloud and Sephiroth struggle with their identities. They also experienced trauma and loneliness in the past, and tended to isolate themselves from others. It’s this commonality that actually makes them compelling rivals, as Cloud not only has to battle Sephiroth, but also the aspects of Sephiroth that Cloud himself struggles with.

The real foils of Sephiroth are Aerith and Tifa. While there is some debate as to whether Aerith or Tifa is the real heroine of FF7 (mostly spear-headed by weird LTD-pushers), the big-brained answer is that they’re both the heroines. This is evident in concept art from an older FF7 Ultimania, pictured below: 

As you can see, the concept for the story’s heroine started out as a hybrid of Tifa and Aerith. The character’s design resembles Tifa, and the name below the sketch reads “ティファ”, or Tifa. However, the character’s role was very different. She was intended to be both the childhood friend of Cloud Strife and a Cetra, the sister of Sephiroth (who originally looked more like Vincent). Eventually, the idea to kill off one of the main characters was introduced, and the role of the heroine was split in two: the Cetra, Aerith, and the childhood friend, Tifa. There is some evidence of the original concept still present in the series; Tifa’s iconic red eyes match Vincent’s, because originally, the two characters were designed to be siblings before eventually going to separate roles.

Based on this evidence, it would seem logical that both Aerith and Tifa retained their dualities with Sephiroth. And, indeed, even in the final product, both characters provide a foil for Sephiroth to balance the scales.

To exemplify the dynamic that Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, and Sephiroth have with one another, I’ve drawn a (crude) spectrum:

Obviously, Aerith and Tifa play different roles and have different importance to the story. Aerith’s role is more “big picture”, so to speak. She is responsible for the Planet and for protecting it from Sephiroth after discovering his plans to destroy it. Tifa’s role is more fine-tuned and detailed. She is the rock and the only stable element of the Nibelheim story, a key part of Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth’s backstories. To understand how each of them foils Sephiroth, we have to look at them individually and analyze how they interact with both Sephiroth and Cloud.

Part I: Aerith as Sephiroth’s Foil

As stated above, Aerith’s role as foil is a little more obvious. Sephiroth and Aerith are both “Cetra”–or, at the very least, they both claim to be. For Sephiroth, his identity as a Cetra is tied to his belief that Jenova, his “mother”, was a Cetra who was betrayed by humanity when humans left the traditional Cetra nomadic lifestyle in order to colonize the land and the Planet. 

However, Jenova was not a Cetra at all–she was actually a “calamity from the skies” that crashed down and created the Northern Crater two thousand years before the events of FF7. After encountering the Cetra, the creature known as Jenova began infecting and killing the Cetra one by one. These killings only stopped when the Cetra banded together to seal Jenova in the Northern Crater; but, by the time it was done, the Cetra were dying off.

So how did Jenova become known as a Cetra? That seems like more than a clerical error to me. It was actually Aerith’s father, Professor Gast, who uncovered Jenova from the Northern Crater and mistakenly identified her as a Cetra. The Shinra Corporation, desperate to find the Cetra’s “Promised Land” thinking that it would be rich in Mako energy, enlisted the professor to find a way to create a Cetra from a human specimen. Using the cells extracted from Jenova, Sephiroth was created, and after reading Shinra’s archives, he discovered his relationship to Jenova and embraced his identity as “Cetra”. 

Aerith, on the other hand, really is a Cetra. Her mother, Ifalna, was the last Cetra–making Aerith, by relation, half-Cetra. Her connection to the Cetra race is real, unlike Sephiroth’s.

This give her declaration in the final chapter of FF7 Remake all the more important:

There’s a duality between Aerith and Sephiroth in truth versus lies. Aerith’s heritage as a Cetra is founded in truth. She is connected to the Planet in a way that is real. She is a Cetra, in covenant with the Planet to protect it that was passed down to her by her mother. In contrast, Sephiroth’s claims to be a Cetra are lies–whether he’s aware of it or not. Jenova, Sephiroth’s “mother”, is not a Cetra. She is not even from the Planet, but rather from somewhere beyond it. Jenova acted as a parasite of the Planet and is actually responsible for sending it into chaos and draining it of its life. He has no real obligation to protect the Planet, and he is not truly connected to it the way that Aerith is.

Aerith and Sephiroth also represent the original duality between the Cetra and Jenova, with both parties continuing to be at odds with one another even two thousand years later.

Tying in a more overarching FF7 theme, Aerith and Sephiroth also personify the duality of life and death, respectively. With Aerith, her “domain” of sorts, the Sector 5 church, is bursting with life. It is the only place in Midgar where flowers will grow. Even gameplay-wise, she is a healer, and is constantly giving life to other characters in the party. Sephiroth, on the other hand, only destroys. He set fire to Nibelheim and killed the townspeople, including Cloud’s mother and Tifa’s father. Cloud even notes his strength while recounting his version of the events in Nibelheim.

Cloud: “Sephiroth’s strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you might have heard about him.”

Therefore, Aerith and Sephiroth represent two different dualities: life versus death, and truth versus lies.

Part II: Tifa as Sephiroth’s Foil

Tifa’s role as foil to Sephiroth is more understated but nevertheless important, especially in the latter half of the story. Tifa, Cloud, and Sephiroth are the only survivors of the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth burned the town of Nibelheim to the ground and killed the townspeople after discovering his “Cetra” heritage. However, Cloud’s memories are clouded due to his trauma and the Mako poisoning he endured during the five-year gap between the Nibelheim incident and the start of FF7; and Sephiroth purposefully twists the truth in order to weaken Cloud’s already-fragile mental state. Therefore, the only one who can decipher what’s true and what’s not is Tifa.

Like Aerith, Tifa also represents the truth, while Sephiroth represents lies and deceit. This is very evident in this scene that takes place in the Northern Crater, and again in a scene during Tifa’s journey into Cloud’s mind. In the Northern Crater, Sephiroth tries to convince Cloud that he was never real, and that all of his childhood memories, even the ones he shared with Tifa, were fabricated.

Sephiroth: “You are just a puppet… You have no heart… and cannot feel any pain… How can there be any meaning in the memory of such a being? What I have shown you is reality. What you remember, that is the illusion. […] Five years ago you were… constructed by Hojo, piece by piece, right after Nibelheim was burnt. A puppet made up of vibrant Jenova cells, her knowledge, and the power of Mako. An incomplete Sephiroth-clone. Not even given a number. …That is your reality.”

Sephiroth, at first, succeeds in convincing Cloud that he is not the “real” Cloud but rather someone who never existed, who never grew up in Nibelheim, and who clung on to fake memories as a means to cope with that fact. However, later in the Lifestream, Tifa expresses a different sentiment:

Tifa: “Sephiroth once said… Cloud made up his memories by listening to my stories… Did you imagine this sky? No, you remembered it. That night the stars were gorgeous. It was just Cloud and I. We talked at the well… That’s why I continued to believe that you were the real Cloud. I still believe you’re the Cloud from Nibelheim…”

By reminding Cloud of a memory they both share–a true memory–she is able to provide a solid ground, wherein Cloud can begin to rebuild his true self after falling for Sephiroth’s deception.

Obviously, Tifa’s relationship with the truth is complicated, and she herself suffers from her own self doubt throughout the story. But in this defining moment, Tifa finally realizes without a doubt what the truth is, and together both Cloud and Tifa are able to reconstruct what really happened in Nibelheim and solve the mystery once and for all.

But this duality isn’t simply about truth versus lies. It’s also about hope versus despair. In deceiving Cloud, Sephiroth strips him of all his hope. Cloud is filled with such fundamental despair that he can’t see the truth and believe that he is indeed an experiment created by Hojo. Tifa, in contrast, provides him with hope when she affirms his memories with her own. Separately, Tifa’s resolve to continue the team’s journey without Cloud is another example of her hope in the face of Sephiroth’s despair.

The idea of hope versus despair in Sephiroth and Tifa is exemplified in Kingdom Hearts (although KH is not canonically related to FF7, I think it’s a neat little call back):

Tifa: “Cloud, you can have my light.”

In Kingdom Hearts II, Sephiroth represents Cloud’s darkness, while Tifa represents Cloud’s light. This is a similar dichotomy to truth versus lies, metaphorically, where Sephiroth is “casting shadows” on the truth, and Tifa is “shedding light” on what really happened. (Okay, sorry for the puns!)

Another duality that Tifa and Sephiroth represent is the dual meaning of reunion in the context of FF7. It’s common knowledge among FFVII fans at this point, but to everyone who’s playing for the first time or who has recently picked up the franchise and not gotten all caught up yet, Sephiroth talks a lot about “the Reunion”.  Like, a lot.  Sephiroth’s “reunion” is a reference to the Reunion Theory, a scientific theory posited by Professor Hojo that states that Jenova’s cells–once separated from their host, i.e. Jenova–will seek out the main body.  This makes everyone who has ever been injected with Jenova’s cells essentially part of a massive Jenova hive mind, with the primary goal to eventually reunite with Jenova.

Obviously, this is a bad thing for Cloud, who was exposed to Jenova cells and is thus connected to Sephiroth.

However, Cloud and Tifa also have a reunion at the beginning of the story–a reunion between friends who haven’t seen each other in a long time. Unlike Sephiroth’s reunion, this is a positive thing. Cloud and Tifa, on multiple occasions, discuss “meeting again” and “finding each other” after so many years apart. Even after they reconstruct Cloud’s memories, he says:

Cloud: “Yeah…… Tifa…… We finally…… meet again……”

Sephiroth’s reunion with Cloud leads him astray from the path; Tifa’s reunion with Cloud sets thing right again. One reunion destroys Cloud’s perception of what’s real, and the other helps him to find the truth once again. Reunion changes meaning with Sephiroth and Tifa, and these opposing definitions of what “reunion” is make Tifa and Sephiroth perfect foils.

Part III: Final Thoughts

Part of what makes Sephiroth such a compelling villain are the striking similarities he shares with the protagonist Cloud Strife. In the original storyboard for FF7, Tifa and Aerith shared a role as the main heroine and the perfect foil for Sephiroth. But even after the role was separated into two distinct characters, the characteristics that made each one of them a foil to Sephiroth remained. For unique reasons, they balance the scales, providing an anchor of “good” to counteract the badness of the story’s main antagonist. 

That’s all I have to say about it! I’ve been thinking a lot about Tifa and Aerith’s unique roles in the story as deuteragonists, or dual heroines, and how they both represent antitheses to Sephiroth. I figured I share my thoughts!

“But that’s all right. As long as I’m with you… As long as you’re by my side… I won’t give up even if I’m scared.”

 (Pic on pixiv: みなと)

hi there but can you describe to what this is suppose to mean (In the RPG text, there was a method to make it easier to understand who's line by using "I", "I", "I" etc. for each character, but "There was a notational fluctuation, so I replaced it completely. There was something like "ta ~", long ago) - Kazushige Nojima. apparently people are taking Nojima's words here as saying the Eng localization and maybe the others as well for 7 remake as bad? is that really the case tho?

Yeah, I remember that. It's one of those moments I start to think that some people shouldn't comment on languages they don't know, and/or don't know how to navigate via translation/dictionaries—especially when this is combined with selfishly following their own agendas by skirting context. We know people do this. Happens all the time with source materials, or even epitexts like guidebooks or interviews. But, it's more annoying when it directly involves a writer's social media account within the drama. It's just really bad.

But let's contextualize.

Every now and then on his Twitter, when he isn't posting about his cute pets (lol), Nojima will post something related to video games/writing, and it'll also often be when you see a small part of the twitter FF7 ENG fanbase parading around his tweets with comments or likes. For instance, a tweet where he talked about leaving room for imagination and interpretation, or when talking about scenario writing. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have this interaction, though sometimes people will say weird things. You'll also find that his tweets like this usually get a good amount of attention as opposed to when he talks about his pets.

That's when we get to the tweet you're referring to, I'd reckon this being the most attention he's ever gotten for a personal tweet. Here's a decent translation, w/ some things added in w/ brackets for clarity:

RPGのテキストで、キャラごとに「ぼく」「僕」「ボク」などを使い分けることで誰の台詞か判りやすくする、なんて手法があったけど「表記ゆれがあったので僕に全置換しときました～」なんてのはわりとありました、昔。

In RPG texts, there was a technique of using different words for each character to make it easier to identify who is speaking, such as "I" [ぼく], "I" [僕], "I" [ボク], etc. However, a long time ago someone would say something like "there was inconsistency in the notation [orthographical variants], so I completely replaced them with I [僕]".

A couple of things.

At its core, this is just a comment about game development/writing. There is no "shade" (I really hate this immature perspective), there is no talk about localization. That was made up by people who don't know how to translate or navigate JPN text. What he's essentially talking about is: how there were different ways to write characters referring to themselves, but how in the past, this was averted and made consistently one way.

That's it.

As you can see, this absolutely has nothing to do with the Remake, and I would wager it also has nothing to do with the OG. This all hinges on the proposed reason for the technique—to make it easy to identify/understand whose dialogue is whose. For the Remake, this issue is nonexistent in today's age considering voice acting, and for the OG, the dialogue boxes identified who the speaker was anyway. Really, this also doesn't automatically apply to all localizations, especially ENG, because of the way the corresponding languages work. Especially in ENG, there's not a lot of natural variances for someone just saying "I" in writing. The closest thing is something more akin to an attribute to characterization (as opposed to clarification of who is speaking), like a character referring to themselves in third person instead of "I", a godly character saying "this one" when referring to themselves, or a character egregiously saying something like "me thinks". For characterization purposes, something close in the OG would be how the 5 bosses of Pagoda had different methods of speaking, which the ENG didn't follow suit apparently.

While an issue of "JPN did this but ENG didn't" does apply to, say, that situation with the 5 bosses: one, you still need to think of the context of how certain things don't directly work for every language, and two, even the example Nojima brings up doesn't exactly apply the same way the examples I mentioned or the 5 bosses do.

Which in this case, Nojima brings up the example of different ways to write what would be pronounced as "Boku" (I, me)—the hiragana ぼく, the kanji 僕, and the katakana ボク versions of the exact same word. They would be the "orthographical variants" [表記ゆれ]—and I was very tempted to translate it as the following meaning—which is simply referring to "words with the same pronunciation and meaning, but different written forms". I wrote "inconsistency in the notation" to signify how this was a situation where someone saw these orthographical variants (or fluctuations, as some translated) and wanted to change them to one, consistent thing. This....is really just a notation thing. Kana is for pronunciation + writing sake, all three of these aren't completely different words. This is different than the 5 bosses example, as the Lifestream user mentions 私 (watashi), ワシ (washi), オラ (ora), and わらわ (warawa)—those are actually all legitimately different words + pronunciations AND mean "I, me". Much more appropriate and often done in JPN fiction.

Nojima's example of 僕/ぼく/ボク ( all "Boku") is not the same, and honestly, it absolutely makes a lot of sense why someone would look at that and think....why? When the 5 bosses example would be the better approach instead imo.

Anyway, the problem with people who misunderstand this is that they're wanting to take this scenario and create a narrative that Nojima is mentioning this specific instance, that isn't even relevant for the Remake, as a means to talk bad about his fellow development team members and reference other "issues" in the Remake's localization. Hell, even look at the comments, which are all from JPN speakers, one of which is someone else who works at SE. None of which are talking about the Remake or all localizations (which literally....why would JPN speakers be doing this???)—just writing for games in general. I’m assuming this tweet gained such massive traction because of how most things ever do, but it isn’t some conspiracy in the making where he talks bad about his fellow employees.

And the funny thing is that, it absolutely can and does apply to the development for even just the JPN version, as this would happen even at the stages of which editing, proofreading, and programming these texts into the game—now, this CAN also apply at the stages of localization, but in addition to what otherwise is also for the JPN. Nojima could vary well be referring to something that happened when making the JPN version of a game long ago, NOT any of its localizations. That isn't made clear.

What is clear, however, is that Nojima isn't talking about Remake or even directly localization. This is just people reaching for their own twisted purposes, and as always, it's annoying. 

It’s just about pronunciation.

It’s just fandom being fandom. Insubordinate. And churlish.

Beautiful in every universe

Shepherd of Memories (Reaper Aerith concept)

FFVIIR Yuffie DLC after credit’s scene

****MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW****

“I thought you would never come”

Over the course of the game, OG FFVII plays with the mystery of Cloud and Tifa’s childhood relationship. We’re primed to think that while they may have known each other as children, there was nothing particularly noteworthy or significant about their childhood together. The framing of the Promise is a great example of this.

The first time Cloud mentions the Promise is in Midgar, when he still thinks he’s an Ex-SOLDIER. When they recount the the story together, Ex-SOLDIER Cloud says he thought Tifa would never come.

Ex-SOLDIER Cloud: I thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold.

We assume Cloud thinks this way because Cloud was like any other boy with an adolescent crush on a girl. Just an average boy being relatably nervous about an average girl. While the story of the Promise is cute, it’s only notable in that it seems to remind Cloud of their seemingly tenuous connection (or if the player is feeling uncharitable, it seems to force an obligation between the two).

Midway through the Lifestream, we discover why Cloud thought Tifa would never come: he thought Tifa hated him.

True Cloud: That night I called Tifa out to the well… I thought to myself Tifa would never come… that she hated me.

This twist changes how we perceive Cloud and Tifa’s relationship. In the first half of this memory, Cloud reveals that he had never been inside Tifa’s room, and we learn that the two “weren’t THAT close.” (There is also the regrettable mistranslation: where the line “I really wanted to play with everyone, but I was never allowed into the group” should have been translated to something like “I really wanted to play with everyone, but I could never bring myself to ask.”) This reveal in conjunction with the line “she hated me” makes us question the true nature of their relationship. Was Tifa a stereotypical popular girl and was Cloud an outcast? Did Cloud think he’d get stood up because Tifa, in a moment of childhood cruelty, arbitrarily considered Cloud to be beneath her?

While this is certainly a dramatic twist, it still paints a relatively mundane relationship. Sure, it might suggest that Tifa might have been unkind as a child, but this isn’t particularly unusual childhood dynamic. (Even if it is a regrettable one.)

But finally, we learn why Cloud thought Tifa hated him and why she might not have met him at the well…

True Cloud:  Tifa was in a coma for seven days. We all thought she wouldn’t make it. If only I could’ve saved her… I was so angry… Angry at myself for my weakness. Ever since then, I felt Tifa blamed me…

We learn that Cloud wasn’t afraid that Tifa hated him for an arbitrary, superficial reason. Cloud’s true fear was that Tifa would want nothing to do with him because she held him responsible for her near-fatal fall at Mt. Nibel. (And of course, we later learn that this is unequivocally false–Tifa never blamed him for this incident.)

With this final reveal, we learn how significant their childhood relationship truly was. 

On Cloud’s part, we learn how deeply he cared for Tifa–so deeply that his failure to save her makes a lasting impression on him. Cloud’s failure to save Tifa weighs so heavily on his mind that even five years later on the night of the Promise, Cloud worries that she might not show up. On top of that, this failure weighs so heavily on his mind that Cloud decides to become a SOLDIER so he can be strong enough to win her notice. Cloud’s failure to save Tifa is the reason why Cloud is the way he is–both his true self and his ex-SOLDIER persona. 

On Tifa’s part, we learn that she wasn’t a superficial girl who was arbitrarily unkind to Cloud. She herself was acting in good faith, and her lateness to the well was not out of cruelty. While they may not have been “THAT close,” Tifa still cared enough to get dressed up and go out to the well to meet Cloud. This speaks to how Tifa held Cloud in her esteem and never held ill will towards him.

And yes, this last part is confirmed:

As a small boy, he didn’t get along with others apart from Tifa. So when Tifa’s mother died and three of her friends decided to take her up the mountains where the dead were believed to go, Cloud wasn’t invited. But even so, Cloud secretly went after them wanting to cheer Tifa up. –Cloud profile AC prologue.

(Source: this excellent post) 

(Yes, poor Cloud really went through the better part of a decade thinking he lost the only person who treated him with kindness because he failed her….)

So through the context of the Promise, we slowly learn how important Tifa has always been to Cloud–and the answer is, she is really, REALLY important. But if you miss that final twist that ties in Mt. Nibel, then you miss this bigger story that the context of the Promise tells us.

What about Remake?

Interestingly, Remake removed the setup for the mystery of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship. Ex-SOLDIER Cloud remembers the Promise on his own, and doesn’t comment on Tifa’s lateness at all! The player is given no reason to doubt Tifa’s good intentions towards Cloud, and thus no reason to doubt their importance to one another as children.

In a game that nails the small callbacks, this is would be a massive oversight… meaning that it’s not an oversight, but an intentional change. This seems to be yet another example of Remake clarifying Cloud and Tifa’s relationship, be it by removing OG’s red herrings or removing the ambiguous moments that generated confusion in the first place.

Parallel #6

[Previous]

"Angeal, stay back. I'll take Sephiroth alone."

"Uhhhh yeah, Genesis so you don't want to do that because that sword that he's holding is bad news you see we basically went into this spooky temple and there were a bunch of statues and monsters and purple shit and everyone started talking like a lunatic and gaslighting the hell out of me and Seph and I kept dreaming about our moms and he was acting like a huge asshole and we had a slapfight and anyway the sword is cursed but not cursed but maybe kind of cursed and Seph went apeshit getting it and had to undergo all these bullshit trials with ghosts because the sword was kinda-sorta-maybe forged from an alien meteorite and has some freaky-deeky shit behind it and Seph was meant to have it or whatever but you really don't want to fight him because I remember what a nightmare that was and I'm not going near that sword ever again be glad I never even brought up Alissa because I'm pretty sure Seph would go into convulsions and does anyone even REMEMBER what happened to Bachman but seriously Genesis don't fuck around with Seph while he's using that sword you're gonna get--"